There was so much that jumped out at me in today's readings that I hardly know what to concentrate on today!
There's the relationship between faith and deeds, there's the progression of sin and how it can entangle us, there's the struggle with reigning in the tongue: all of which definitely stuck out. But then there was one verse that really hit me....
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. James 3:1
I am not technically a teacher.
But because I am a mother, I am a teacher to four little ones who are precious in the sight of God. And I will be judged for how I teach them.
And all those things that stuck out in this passage apply.
What am I teaching my kids about the relationship between faith and deeds? Am I giving proper verbal instruction and then, even more importantly, is my walk matching my talk? Do my children see me living out my faith on a daily basis? And not just sometimes, but always!
Am I teaching my children the progression of sin and how our sinful side natural desires evil which causes us to be tempted, then to rationalize the sin away so that we give in to it, which causes it to be easier to commit the same sin again the next time and that very quickly what we once thought was fun and enticing now becomes our master and us its slave?
Am I teaching my children the power of the tongue and how difficult yet crucial it is to master it - only by the grace of God and His power alone?
And the list just goes on and on!
We are not just living our lives. We are not only responsible for ourselves. Because, make no mistake, every day as parents we are teaching our children.
What exactly are we teaching them?
Tomorrow's passage: James 4-5, 1 Timothy 1-2
1 comment:
Great post, Tammy. I have also been thinking about these things a lot lately - taming the tongue, what I teach my children and *how* I teach it... There's is definitely a lot of great stuff in the book of James to ponder and reflect upon.
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